Great American Beer Festival Medal Winner! American style barleywine: so named because of its high, wine-like alcohol content, and the usage of American hops. Deep amber in color and full bodied, with a blend of fruitiness, maltiness and hop bitterness to balance.

Reviews by mobyfann:

The beer pours a dark brown, hazy base, with a huge white head, excellent head retention, and artistic lacing on the sides of the glass, brilliant! The aroma is a mix of rich malted barley and a side tone of alcohol.

The taste is pretty dynamic, malted barley, grapes, cinnamon tones but the alcohol tones in the nose and on the tongue distract me little in this stage as well. The beer is very drinkable at a strong 11%, and it feels rather light in the mouth, and very creamy thanks to the head.

Final Thought: If it weren't for the tones of alcohol, this one would be remarkable; instead, it's still a solid brew!

More User Reviews:

12 oz bottle pours a cloudy amber chestnut body with a small beige head that quickly falls into skim and sheet lacing. Aroma has a bold maltiness of caramel and molasses with citrusy hop notes in the background. Medium body with an apt medium low carbonation. Taste is scorched caramel and pine and citrus hop bitterness. Fruity notes of apples and oranges add an interesting dimension. Pine hop bitterness becomes assertive midway through and stay to the finish. Finishes with a pine cone hops bitterness. Well done!

Dark honey color, kinda murky with tiny bubbles rising up from the bottom toward a thick, beige foamy head that lingers long and clings to the inside of the glass. Sweet smell of honey, cotton candy, and hops, plus sweet malt and fruit. Aroma is very inviting. Flavor is vigorous and makes itself known immediately. Sweet and chewy, with fruit and malt, a little cherry, and wow the alcohol stings the back of the throat and tingles the tongue. Mouthfeel is smooth, very creamy, perfectly carbonated. A bitter orange peel aftertaste lingers. Thanks to Brent for sharing this beauty.

Appearance: Deep amber brown chestnut wow it's deep hued with a big tan caramel head leaving entricate and even lacing, nice. Aroma: Deep bready yeas notes with English malts and alchol shining through with fruity undertones and a hint offness this beer is borderline with stale malts that bring a diacetyl tone about. Taste: Deep herbal hop profile with an offness in the malts pours thick bitterness and stale hops tastes horrible. Mouthfeel: Full bodied chalkiness can't get down with this one blah. Drinkability: Pass on older samples no date on this bottle but old in the malt profies nature with mute hop flavor and strong bitterness.

A- This beer pours a deep brown body with an amber hue. There is a thin ring of big bubbles around the edge and that is supported by a gentle carbonation of bubbles.

S- There is a very light note of dark sweet malt with a soft fusel alcohol hint that comes through in the finish. There are some soft notes of brown malt and toasted malt coming through as it warms but there were very subtle.

T- This beer has a light flavor in general with notes of dark malt and some notes of dark fruit hints coming out as it warms. There are some light toasted malt hints and a soft white sugar note to it. The soft flavor of green hops has a gentle bitterness and a slight alcohol taste in the finish.

M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a bit of a watery texture. The alcohol heat was pretty smooth and gentle but nice.

D- This beer has a soft light flavor and smell but the alcohol is a nice heat and not too hot.

Pours a deep ruby color with a creamy head that slaps sticky lace onto the glass with only slight tilting. Bubbles slowly slide their way up. If looks are anything to go by, it's already a winner.

One very fruity-smelling barleywine, this gives off strong hits of sour green apple and grapefruit at first, with time and some warming letting maple syrup, alcohol and cherry Jolly Ranchers through.

More green apple in the flavor, like it was soaked in sherry and rum and dunked in molasses. More tangy fruitiness in the middle, lots of freshly-cut wood, and a slight bit of vanilla peeking through. Bitter assault of grassy astringency (or grapefruit rind) in the finish, indicating this sucker needs some cellaring.

Mouthfeel is velvety smooth, a bit lighter than many other barleywines.

Really good, but definitely young tasting with all that green-apple/hoppy bitterness flying around. Aging will probably do this beer all kinds of good.

Unfiltered brown,minimal head. smells like a barleywine.taste of mollasses and brown sugar and caramel. Average mouthfeel. Some hops but neither sweet nor bitter. Directionless. Not so drinkable or interesting.A shame with the high abv. Probably best young.Jon's bottle.

SheepNutz suggested I wait a year before I try this. I think I came close! ;-)

Hazy (almost murky) tawny-brown in hue with a slight coppery highlight. The head reached a half finger in height and then the beige foam subsided to a soapy cap. Subsequent lacing was spotty and it held fairly well. It is a good-looking beer. The nose has very lovely malt depth. It is rich, ample, fairly toasty but widely sweet. There is a caramel backdrop and even further at the back is a hint of char. The hops play a supporting role and dont really offer any clear aromas. The potency is modest. I found the beer to be inviting; the malt qualities alone make me want to take a sip. The palate is flavorful and surprisingly well balanced. Both the malt and hops are big, which provides a good one-two punch. The malt supplies some sweetness in the form of caramel. I even get a trace hint of chocolate and some roast. There are clearly some toasty qualities that allow some dark fruitiness to show. Nice. Then the hops enter, ideal bitterness IMO. The hops are firm and fairly flavorful, kind of piney and flowery. However the hops yield to the malt by the finish. Tasty. I found the palate to be well constructed. Nicely done. I will say there is a little rawness to it but I like how it adds a layer of complexity. It reminds me of an aged Bigfoot in some respects. Medium in body, if not just a tickle bigger, the carbonation is modest but fitting, pleasant mouthfeel. The aftertaste is perfect for the style; it says, Give me cheese! Bearded Pats is bold and tasty, simple but unrefined, still it comes off well constructed. It is worthy of sipping and savoring. Thanks SheepNutz, this was a dandy!

When poured, this brew had large light brown head with small bubbles that mostly diminished. This brew had good lacing to it and a clear body with a brown hue. It had a harsh malty aroma and I also noticed a mild coffee aroma as well. The flavor was bitter tasting from start to finish. I definitely tasted the alcohol in this brew.

Deep ruby red hue with a one finger light tan head that settles to a thin rim along the glass.

Sharp piercing hops with some light hard candy in the background.

The hops provide some bitterness, but they aren't as sharp as I would have expected. Mostly a light candy flavor like in the aroma. Full bodied with good carbonation. The finish is some lingering sweet flavor with a bit of bitterness.

A very sweet barleywine with a weird hard candy flavor that seemed to dominate. Not bad, but I would have liked a little more complexity.

12 oz received as a very cool want-list extra from Brentk56... cellared since April.... refrigerated for the last week or so.. poured into my New Belgium snifter tonight.

1" tan head dies back slowly leaving rings of lace as I swirl.. an a bunch of splotch bubbles... Brew is fairly clear chestnut brown.

Aroma is thick caramel punctuated by sweet cigar and leather.. hops are there.. but play second or even third fiddle to the malts...

Flavor is again thick all the way around.. caramel and sweet but not cloying maltiness... bitterness may be on the light side.. but I appreciate a good malty barleywine.. spiciness shows up as it warms.. both hops and yeast... there is a pervasive and long finish of pipe tobacco.. tastes like the way a candy shop and a good walk-in humidor would smell if they were in the same room. Flavor is huge... but reminds me much more of a very very big boned English BW... there is a distinct fruitiness as it warms.. cherry essence.. maybe a little bit of plum... smoky.. and some piney hops become more evident as I sit here and it reaches room temperature... definitely some pine in there.... but the malts tend to gobble it up until the absolute finish.

Body is fairly thick with creamy but good carbonation..

I am really digging the Bearded Pat.. I know that there are a couple places that I can order this... I should pick up 12 for the next few years and see how they measure out.. but for now... I am damn.. very damn happy Brent included this brew.. now I just wish I would have had a BA/BW buddy around to share it with.

I was thrilled to get this one in a trade recently as I had been wanting to try it, but alas we do not get any of their wonderful offerings around here. I had cellared this one for about six months before opening the 12 ounce bottle last night, just to let it mellow out as it was a fresh 2007 when Ireceived it. Served at cellar temperature into a snifter, I was thrilled to begin sampling this one. The pour was very nice with a rusty, ruby colored, almost candy like reddish amber color being presented in front of me. There was a touch of haze to it, but not as much as I expected. Some light carbonation could be seen struggling up to reach the surface. There was a decent sized two finger head of white that caressed the top of it and hung out for a good bit before settling down to just a thin crown and leaving behind some scorching side glass lace. Very nice look for a Barley wine,

The aroma was very pleasing, with loads of sugar coming at me almost at once. There was some very complex aromas mingling around in here for sure. Some tobacco was clearly evident, giving it a musky sort of aroma, light hints of alcohol, candied sugar and apples coming through. As it warmed some hints of an oaky sort came out. The flavor was really well done I have to admit. Super smooth, with just the lightest of carbonation, it struggled not to tip too far into the syrup side of things, butmay have in fact landed there in the end. Very sweet, with hardly any alcohol being noticed in here, I was quite impressed. Rich candied apple notes were abound in here, with hints of caramel and honey as well. Some light floral notes in the finish, and that musky tobacco like taste, that I could almost construe to be a weird type of spice to be honest. As it warmed any trace of the alcohol was gone, and it became a syrup laden sweet candied treat. I was sipping along on this for a good long while mainly due to the complex flavors, but it surely would not be a session ale. This was a very nice way for meto wrap up my evening as I would have loved to have had another one right after it.

Overall this was easily my favorite I have had from them so far. It is a very solid offering for sure, and one of the better barley wines I have had lately. Very sweet with a nice hidden quality to it. This definitely falls into the must try category.

Not sure what the vintage was, but I think it was probably fairly new, since the flavor profile was a bit young. Poured a murky brown, with a bit of yeast sediment floating about. Aroma was striking, with some fig and prune. Overall, the sweetness, caramel malt and breadyness made me think of the dessert bread pudding. Some raw alcohol notes. A bit syrupy, with a protracted bitter hops finish. This was quite a good barleywine, and I think it might mellow out a bit with some age.

The beer pours a sibylline purplish red plum color, the head cyclopean in size, with a creamy texture, the color light tan, the lace portly sheets, that cling titanically to the glass. Nose is fusel alcohol, malt, extremely ripe bananas, wow what a treat for the smeller. Start is sweet, the top is middling, but the alcohol bitterness smacks your palate immediately", dynamically hopped, the acidity, mild, dry and alcohol bitter aftertaste. I would describe the beer as vigorous, and certainly not meant for the Light beer crowd, Im not sure if its meant for Man nor Beast, but I love these over the top Bad Boys, that make you wince.

Pours a murky brown in color with some reddish highlights. Smell is huge malts and some hops. Taste is huge caramel malts. Over the top malts. A little bit of hops again in the back end. Medium body on the mouthfeel. Alcohol is barely noticeable. Pretty good barleywine.